The design of integrated circuit is a time-consuming and complicated process. An integrated circuit may contain upwards of hundreds of functional components that need to be interconnected, arranged and verified in silicon to provide desired functionality. Added to this complexity is the further complication that technological advances in circuit design are increasing at a rapid pace. Therefore, the greater the time taken to design an integrated circuit, the longer it will take to get the product to market, due to the need to redesign the circuit to accommodate the technology. Therefore, increased efficiency in the design and manufacture of integrated circuits may result in a greater competitive advantage, improved time to market and improved access by consumers to the latest technology.
One method that was utilized to provide an integrated circuit design was to utilize a platform. However, previously, only single processor systems were employed, which did not provide the infrastructure needed for a multiple processor system.
Additionally, previous systems were designed for utilization with a single type of processor. Therefore, the implementation of a different processor involved the redesign of a system from the beginning, which was inefficient and expensive.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a heterogeneous multiprocessor reference design.